Dead Island: Is It Fallout or Borderlands?

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Two editors talk about their undead love for Techland's zombie RPG.

By Greg Miller and Stephanie Lee

Over the weekend, IGN Loudmouth Greg Miller reviewedDead Island and IGN Guides Editor Stephanie Lee posted a 45-minute Dead Island walkthrough to supplement her ever expanding guide. Needless to say, both have been playing the hell out of developer Techland's undead RPG. Once the review and guide went up, the Internet exploded with excitement, rage and praise. Now, the game is out on store shelves, so we gather the two again to talk about what makes Dead Island work.

Greg Miller: Stephanie Lee! You are working on the Dead Island guide. You've been playing tons of Dead Island. What do you think of it?

Stephanie Lee: To be honest, when my boss Mark Ryan shoved the game into my hands to make me do the IGN wiki guide, I was scared out of my mind. I'm no good with horror games. I really had to muster the courage to play it, and when I did, I'm glad I did. The game is actually really rad.

Stephanie Lee: Not as scared as I thought I would be. I remember asking you whether the game would be tough for someone like me to stomach, and you told me it was just intense, like fighting wild animals, which I think perfectly sums up the feeling of tension and stress I get.

There are a few Dead Space-like claustrophobic moments, though, and that was really hard for me to get through. (Sorry if the IGN wiki guide tells you to hide in the corner.)

Stephanie Lee: I agree with your score. It's a game that really grows on you and, frankly, is my surprise of the year. You mentioned that it was akin to Fallout with zombies. I actually think Dead Island more closely resembles a combination of Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, and Dead Rising. A Fallout-like game would imply consequences and weight to your decisions, but there's nothing like that in the game. Dead Island does, however, have oodles of quests, so in that regard it is kind of like Fallout.

Greg Miller: Well, there's not dancing robots, so screw your Borderlands reference. But seriously, it's the presentation and setup that make it Fallout to me. The looting of bags, the way the camera zooms in when NPCs talk, the tons of sidequests.

Borderlands was so colorful and cheery. Dead Island didn't remind me of it, but I get the comparison.

Stephanie Lee: Yeah, the graphics are different, but Dead Island has a way of creating that sort of deceptively idyllic atmosphere and then drops a bunch of rabid zombies on your ass, making you fight for your life.

And, as I said, it's way more Borderlands than Fallout. Borderlands was a game about looting, and Dead Island feels similar. Lots and lots of looting normal items, and, of course, super-awesome weapons. And like Borderlands (and the games that inspired it), the weapons are color-coded based on rarity of the item. And THEN, you have the added depth of weapons durability, upgrading, and crafting a la Dead Rising.

Greg Miller: WHATEVER. Fallout was all about looting. I looted so many boxes. So much cola.

Stephanie Lee: OK, OK -- but at least in Dead Island you won't get shot at for opening someone's drawer. Because they're all dead! Or zombies.

Greg Miller: Yeah, weird that I looted the crap out people's hideouts and they didn't care. But I digress. When I reviewed it, we both wondered how it would fair with other critics. I thought this would be a love it or hate it game, but so far, most people are positive about it. Shocking?

Bring it, buddy.

Stephanie Lee: If I'd never played it, I would be shocked. But since I've put a good 15 hours in the game so far, I'm glad to see it being so well-received. It's a buggy game (quest markers sometimes don't show up, can't complete quests without reloading sometimes, etc.), the combat is rough around the edges, and improvements can certainly be made, but overall Dead Island has been a joy to play.